A driver who left a family with life-threatening injuries after causing a horror crash on the A35 was ‘doubly disqualified’ at the time of the collision.

John Cove, 31, was speeding on the main road between Honiton and Axminster just before midnight on November 18, 2016, when he lost control of his BMW on a right hand bend, crossed the central line and hit a Renault Megane coming the other way.

All five occupants of the car were injured in the collision including Anna Szkutnik, her six-year-old daughter Oliwia Koziol and her cousin Izabela Szewc.

Cove admitted three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and was jailed for three years and nine months at Exeter Crown Court this afternoon.

Ms Szkutnik, who was training to be an osteopath at the time of the crash, said in a statement read to the court that the collision had an impact on ‘all of my life and all of my plans’.

Among the many injuries sustained, Ms Szkutnik suffered a broken collarbone, fractured left leg and wrist and a punctured right lung.